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“Will the Obama movement be a real movement that pushes its leader to keep his promises?” Micah Sifry wrote recently on the blog TechPresident. “Or will it be more of a personalized movement of followers attracted to a charismatic star?”

Obama’s campaign has been remarkably effective so far this year at maintaining a coherent message, built around Obama’s biography and his appeal for a new kind of politics. Part of his success has been tight message discipline: The campaign has been virtually leak-free, and the line of control from Obama to his chief strategist David Axelrod to campaign manager (and Axelrod business partner) David Plouffe is unchallenged.

Many involved in the independent efforts find it hard to quibble with that success, and may have second thoughts about continuing that work over Obama’s explicit objection.

“If he were to make a definitive statement, we’d have to think hard about it,” said one.

The campaign’s opposition to the outside groups is, donors and activists said, being felt more sharply by the groups established to attack McCain through television advertising, as the lavishly funded Media Fund attacked Bush in 2004.

Brock, the chairman of Progressive Media USA, declined to comment on Obama’s stance.

Martin Frost, the president of America Votes, also suggested that the Obama campaign stance had had more impact on media groups than on ones focused on turnout.

“We’re continguing with our fundraising and things have been going well for us,” he said. “You really need to ask someone who’s dealing with the media aspect.”

But Democrats who support the work of the media 527s say Obama’s making a mistake. Progressive Media USA has aired anti-McCain television ads and developed a website intended to be a hub for negative information about McCain.

“Obama needs a bass line to the melody of his positive message,” said a Democratic strategist who backs the group’s aims.

I just wonder how this would play if the roles were reversed. This campaign is now praising Fox, when several months ago they declined to even debate on the network. Another example of trying to have it both ways. Classic Clinton Triangulation

This may be a wise policy if he can pull it off. Not only will it show his leadership capabilities, but it reinforces his message of a new kind of politics. It also sharply contrasts McCain's lack of real effort to rein in the right wing 527's and factions of the RNC.

In addition, it gives him some justification to decline the public financing McCain will be forced to accept because of dismal fundraising, and gives him more control over the message.

If he can pull this off, we may be witnessing the prelude to a very powerful and effective administration, as well as another long term stretch of Democratic congressional control.

The Liberal messiah speaks "My job this morning is to be so persuasive . . . that a light will shine through that window, a beam of light will come down upon you, you will experience an epiphany, and you will suddenly realize that you must go to the polls and vote for Barack."Poor Hillary nobody has ever taken on The Liberals messiah before.

Obama....obama...obama.....don't you get funding from Planned Parenthood groups? Doesn't Planned Parenthood get 337 MILLION per year from tax payer monies? Where is your outrage on that funding and group?

Washington (CNSNews.com) - A group of black pro-lifers joined a protest outside a Planned Parenthood clinic here on Thursday, calling for an end to federal funding of the abortion provider and expressing opposition to Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) pro-abortion stance.

"As Christians, we cannot vote for a man based on his skin color, but, as Dr. King has said to us, on the content of his character," the Rev. Stephen Broden, pastor of the Fair Park Bible Fellowship Church in Dallas, Texas, told Cybercast News Service.

"If (Obama) supports abortion, which is a scourge of our community, which is devastating our community, then we cannot, we must not, support him," Broden added.

Broden was joined by other black pastors, leaders, and community and youth activists at the event, which was organized by Students for Life of America.

The rally was in response to recent reports by a student publication at UCLA which released recorded telephone conversations in which a purported donor offered to make contributions for race-targeted abortions to some Planned Parenthood offices and representatives of those offices agreed to accept them. Planned Parenthood later apologized, stating it was not their policy to accept race-targeted donations.

"This is a race issue," Jesse Lee Peterson, president of the Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny (BOND), told Cybercast News Service. "(Planned Parenthood founder) Margaret Sanger was a racist. Her plans were to wipe out the quote-unquote underclass. Planned Parenthood is carrying out her wishes even in 2008 and we have to do something about it."

Day Gardner, president of the National Black Pro-Life Union, said at the rally that her organization drafted a letter to Obama requesting that he not accept any campaign contributions from Planned Parenthood and that Congress should investigate the business practices of Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers.

The letter also asked Obama to oppose federal funding of the abortion provider, which totals more than $300 million a year. The letter is signed by dozens of leaders from black churches and organizations.

Obama’s campaign has been remarkably effective so far this year at maintaining a coherent message, built around Obama’s biography and his appeal for a new kind of politics

The message was effective in democrat world, however, in "general election world" things will shift back to reality. The bleeding hearts won with Obama against Hillary. We congratulate Obama in advance for beating Hillary, however, it is now time to battle out the issues.

Donors and Democratic activists have been quietly debating Obama’s motives:

Now, why on earth would the least vetted presidential candidate in US history be afraid of what a 527 might dig up....?

Barack Obama is one of the least vetted presidential candidates in US history.

Even his time as an Illinois senator is vague as there is little if any record or paper trail (which Judicial Watch believes is too vacant to not be "intentional") to detail the comings and goings of his senatorial office... and it's no wonder he may have made efforts to erase any evidence of those with whom he met and of what issues they discussed when American eyebrows lift a tad higher with each association we DO learn about... I mean, the list of questionable characters gets longer every month... beginning with Tony Rezko (financially "creative" business investor)... followed by Jeremiah Wright (anti-America, racist, anti-semite, nut job)... and Bill Ayers and his lovely wife Bernadine Dohrn (60s circa domestic terrorists)... and then there's Rashid Khalidi (anti-Israel Palestinian type)... and the ever gracious Jodi Evans (co-founder of Code Pink whotraveled to Iraq and donated $600,000 in "aid" to people they call "the other side" in order that they may "resist coalition forces" - In other words - she is funding terrorist efforts to kill American troops in Iraq).

Even Barack's voting record (what little of it there is) is vague: 130-ish votes of "present"... and with the times he did manage to take a position, The National Journal named Barack Obama their 23rd "Most Liberal" senator in Washington.

My guess is that Obama has put in a lot of effort to keep a lot of his past a secret... and he is scared to death (in the still choppy wake of Jeremiah Wright) of what the 527s will find if they dig deep enough...

From The Huffington Post (well know bastion of (cough,cough)... conservative thinkers and supporters...

Obama's mantra, "Yes, We Can" is inspiring and heartwarming, but in the end is an empty phrase that will founder once the Republican political attack machine spins up. I realize that most Obamatons are so wedded to his vision of hope that any effort to point out the cracks in the foundation of the new Democratic Savior are met with fury and disdain.

If you think for a minute that the Republican party -- who used Willie Horton on Michael Dukakis to devastating effect, who portrayed triple amputee and veteran Max Cleland as a bosom buddy of Osama Bin Laden, and convinced many voters that decorated combat veteran John Kerry was a fraud -- will give Obama a pass come the fall then you are in serious denial.

But, unlike the attacks on Dukakis, Cleland, and Kerry, the ammunition that Obama has provided to his political foes is significant and deadly. But try telling that to Obama disciples. You get name calling and character assassination (just read the reaction to this piece).

Obama's untested achilles heel is his relationship with three men -- Tony Rezko, William Ayers, and Rashid Khalidi. These names will become shorthand for Corruption, Terrorism, and the Destruction of Israel. Oh yes, I know. I am going to extremes. Well, let me lay out the facts and explain how the Republicans will likely use these relationships to bludgeon Obama's presidential aspirations into dust. My challenge to you Obama supporters is to explain to me and other readers of this blog how Obama will defuse these issues.

The Tony Rezko Problem:

There is a growing body of material in the blogosphere on this issue (looseheadprop has an excellent overview), but the mainstream media has paid little attention and most Americans know nothing of Rezko's bribery and corruption trial. Not yet.

The William Ayers Problem:

William Ayers is an unrepentant terrorist, though he is normally described as a distinguished education professor. One does not necessarily rule out the other, but he himself acknowledges planting bombs in U.S. Federal buildings. There is now undeniable proof of a longstanding relationship between Barack Obama and William Ayers. We are not talking about two guys who just happened to bump into one another on the street. We are not talking about a secret admirer (Ayers) who quietly sent $200 to an aspiring politician.

No, we are talking about William Ayers hosting a fundraiser for Barack Obama and actively working with him to secure Barack's first electoral victory in Illinois. But wait, there is more. Barack and Ayers also served on the board of the Woods Fund. And they worked together to give money to some other folks, including a group with ties to the PLO.

What makes Ayers so toxic is his own written record equating U.S. Marines with terrorists. Look at the beating that John Kerry took for tossing his medals over the White House fence. Ayers did not toss medals, he threw bombs. Real ones. Bombs that exploded.

Do you think that Republicans will ignore Obama's ties to Ayers? The two were serving on the same board in 2002. We are talking less than six years ago and the record will come out showing some questionable grants by these two characters. William Ayers, in the age of terrorism, will be Barack Obama's Willie Horton.

The Problem of Rashid Khalidi:

So far, the press has paid little attention to Obama's ties to Rashid Khalidi, Middle East Professor at Columbia University and PLO activist. An article in The Jewish Week from last year offers up this tantalizing tidbit:

Khalidi, now the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University, and head of that school's Middle East Institute, declined to comment on Abunimah's recollections. But in an interview in Tuesday's Daily News, he said he hosted the fundraiser because he and Obama were friends while the two lived in Chicago. "He never came to us and said he would do anything in terms of Palestinians," Khalidi told the paper.

Nevertheless, one Hyde Park source close to Obama, speaking only on condition of anonymity, recalled, "He often expressed general sympathy for the Palestinians -- though I don't recall him ever saying anything publicly."

Obama has made his pilgrimage to AIPAC (funny, but in his campaign against special interests and their grip on Washington he gives AIPAC a pass) and worked to position himself as a friend of Israel. But the relationship with Khalidi has not yet received the white hot media attention that tends to occur during the dog days of July and August, when the press needs a story. And guess who helped broker the appearance of Iran's Ahmadinejad last summer at Columbia University? Professor Khalidi.

way to, go obama try and control and restrict speech like your buddy McCain did, Hugo Chavez would be proud. you crazy lefty bast@@#. Go back home to Chicago and take that pain in the butt wife with you, clean up Chicago and we will go from there.

"Obama has marginalized both groups,billionaires and bloggers". Penny Pritzker is a billionaire with Obama campaign since feb 07.It seems to me that she has a lot of influence in his campaign. Or it is more like changing some billionaires with other billionaires?

pc in tampa when u post long ppl just scroll ob by this aint fox honey go shoot ur racoons and live in trailer let rest of us discuss sense, politico is for educated folks honey go home buh bye now take mcsame with u wjhat an ole ugly man. a mutt